The Asa (Aasá) language, commonly rendered Aasax (also rendered as Aasá, Aasáx, Aramanik, Asak, Asax, Assa, Asá[2]), is an extinct Afroasiatic language formerly spoken by the Asa people of Tanzania. The language is extinct; ethnic Assa in northern Tanzania remember only a few words they overheard their elders use, and none ever used it themselves. Little is known of the language; what is recorded was probably Aasa lexical words used in a register of Maasai, similar to the mixed language Mbugu.[3]
| Asa | |
|---|---|
| Aasá | |
| Region | Tanzania |
| Ethnicity | Asa |
| Extinct | 1952–1956[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aas |
aas.html | |
| Glottolog | aasa1238 |
| ELP | Aasáx |
Classification
Asa is usually classified as Cushitic, most closely related to Kw'adza. However, it might have retained a non-Cushitic layer from an earlier language shift.
The Aramanik (Laramanik) people once spoke Asa, but shifted to Nandi (as opposed to Maasai).
Vocabulary
Asa is known from three primary sources: two vocabulary lists from 1904 and 1928, and a collection by W. C. Winter from 1974.[4]
The following are some example words of Asa, together with probable cognates identified in Kw'adza and Iraqw:[5]
- 'big': jira — Kw'adza dire
- 'bird': širaʔa — Iraqw tsʼirʕi
- 'louse': ʔita — Iraqw itirmo
- 'blood': saʔaka — Kw'adza saʔuko
- 'bone': farit — Kw'adza falaʔeto, Iraqw fara
- 'horn': hadoŋ — Kw'adza xalinko, Iraqw xaraŋ
- 'hair': seʔemuk — Iraqw seʔemi
- 'head': sogok — Kw'adza sagiko, Iraqw saga
- 'eye': ilat — Kw'adza ilito, Iraqw ila
- 'mouth': afok — Kw'adza afuko, Iraqw afa
- 'tongue': šeferank — Iraqw tsʼifraŋ
- 'breast': isank — Iraqw isaŋ
- 'heart': monok — Kw'adza munaku, Irawn muna
- 'water': maʔa — Kw'adza maʔaya, Iraqw maʔay
- 'sand': hajat — Kw'adza hasinko, Iraqw hasaŋ
- 'stone': deʔok — Kw'adza tlʼaʔiko, Iraqw tlʼaʕano
- 'to drink': wat- — Kw'adza wat-, Iraqw wah-
- 'to eat': ʔag- — Kw'adza ag-, Iraqw ʕayim-
- 'to lie': ʔat- — Kw'adza kʼat-, Iraqw qat-
- 'to die': ga- — Kw'adza gwaʔ-, Iraqw gwa-
- 'to kill': gas- — Kw'adza gaʔis-, Iraqw gas-
- 'far': sanga — Kw'adza sagumu, Iraqw saw
- 'near': šaya — Kw'adza tsʼahemi, Iraqw tsʼew
Some loanwords in Asa from other languages are known:[6]
Notes
Literature
- Ehret, Christopher (1980). The Historical Reconstruction of Southern Cushitic phonology and vocabulary. Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik. Vol. 5. Dietrich Reimer.
- Petrollino, Sara; Mous, Maarten (2010). "Recollecting Words and Expressions in Aasá, a Dead Language in Tanzania". Anthropological Linguistics. 52 (2): 206–216. doi:10.1353/anl.2010.0012.
- Winter, Christopher (1979). "Language Shift among the Aasáx, a Hunter-Gatherer Tribe in Tanzania". Sprache und Geschicte in Afrika. 1: 175–204.